Respect For The Departed(Job/Sloth/Arashi)

Job Name: On the LamJob Rank: BJob Location: ZouJob Rewards: 15,000 Huang & 200 XPJob Overview: Having escaped the Emperor's prison, Arashi and Yakuroro head to the grave of Arashi's previous master so she can say her farewells. However, the empire's top soldiers on hot on their tail.

Spoiler:

Enemy Name: Soldiers x4Rank: CNeeded damage to take down: 1 C or 2 DsAbilities: The best of Captain Jiang's division, these soldiers have battle experience from the front line. However, they specialize in fighting armies and are slow combatants. Their attacks can cause heavy damage though, with each swing of their blades acting as a C ranked hit. If all five of them attack at once, it equals to an B rank attack. They can move at about 5m/s.

Enemy Name: Captain JiangRank: BNeeded damage to take down: 1 B, 2 Cs or 4 DsAbilities: A tried and true captain with extensive siege experience. Due to his old age, he has been stationed at the prison where combat is less common. However, don't let his age fool you, his attacks deliver devastating B Rank damage, and his skill in magoi manipulation is strong enough to destroy even the mightiest Borg of a lower ranked mage. However, much like his soldiers, his skill is in that of close ranged warfare of many attacking enemies, and as such, his speed is slow. He can move at about 10m/s.

Immediately following their prison break, Arashi and Yakuroro would be moving south bound on the latter's flying carpet. Many eye witnesses including a group of guards spotted the fleeing duo and the direction they were headed. The Imperial Palace was in an uproar of confusion as members of the military tried to understand just how a blue haired giant had broken in and freed a prisoner scheduled for execution. There were all sorts of conflicting reports including that the intruder had been personally escorted by the emperor himself! However despite the chaos, a crack team of elite troops was sortied in mere minutes. The reason behind this particular group's quick mobilization was their leader. Captain Jiang was responsible for overseeing the prison and as such, escaped inmates fell under his direct responsibility. The man had looked into Arashi's background during the days she'd been a captive and as they were seen going south, the experienced captain was able to predict more or less where they were headed.

Yakuroro was unaware that there were already pursuers and neither he, nor his new companion would be able to fathom said pursuers knew where they were headed. Because of this, the Imuchakk didn't think there was a cause for rush and decided to make a detour. "Oh that's right! I left Dynatos outside the city! We'll get to that grave before the day is up, but first I need to go get someone." Yakuroro said to Arashi before descending from their 60m altitude to a more reasonable and less dangerous 10m which brought them down to just above the buildings lining the city streets. At their speed of 25m/s there would be no way news of the prison break that JUST happened could have gotten this far from the palace so the pair would be able to travel out of the city without any guards ready to stop them, albeit some tried by shouting after the jade green carpet and it's two passengers.

Once they reached the city walls, Yakuroro flew over them and then headed east to the small forest where he'd asked Dynatos to wait for him. The Finalis was trusted with watching Yaku's "son" Akatetsu while he was testing his illusions out as the Bonehead would have only made it harder to infiltrate the palace unnoticed. At their speeds it would only take an hour or so to reach the clearing where Yaku had left the red headed swordsman. Upon arriving Yakuroro lowered the carpet to ground level and looked around till he spotted his friend, "Oi! Dynatos! Tetsu wasn't too much of a handful I hope!" The blue haired Imuchakk shouted as he stepped off the carpet. Sure, they would be getting back on soon enough, but the man was also sure that Arashi was probably eager to touch down on solid ground for a while. Besides, Yaku needed to introduce her to his current companions. "Arashi, this is Dynatos. A Finalis who for the moment is traveling with me. Dyn, this is Arashi, a prisoner whom I broke free from the Zou Imperial Palace!" The magician's cheery mood didn't quite fit the severity of what he just explained, but that's just how Yakuroro was. The laws and limits of common men were more like superficial guidelines in that strange mind of his.

So... she had decided to follow the odd man and was now sitting on the back of his flying carpet as they soared through the air. Arashi went pale as she tried to process the situation. This man was strong and sly enough to break into Empire's prison, which laid directly under the Emperor's palace, but he was naive enough to bring a total stranger along. Not only that but a stranger who had been placed inside a maximum security prison. This man must have been insane... Still, he had managed to get Arashi out of the prison. However, for how long, she wasn't sure. After all, flying by carpet wasn't the most discreet way of travel. She was sure people would be following them.

As they flew, the man suddenly spoke. They were going to go get a man named Dynatos? That was... certainly a name. She wasn't sure about picking up another person... Arashi wasn't too sure this carpet was that sturdy. However, she was just a passenger, so she only nodded along. The longer they flew, the more Arashi began to gather up her hair, trying to keep it under control. She was curious as to who this Dynatos man was... Odd how she knew his name before the name of her savior, and she hadn't even seen the other man yet. ”What's your name...?” she asked, her voice a soft deadpan as her wide eyes stared at him.

When they flew down into the forest, Arashi leaned over the edge of the carpet slowly, trying to find the man. When they slowly lowered themselves to ground level, she blinked. His friend was a swordsman? His hair was fairly red too... Was he a Finalis? In her studies her family had made sure she knew what they were. After all, they were commonly used in slavery circuits as bodyguards, fighters or killers. The moment they were close enough to the ground for Arashi to jump off, she did so. Albeit, she made sure to avoid getting too close to the red haired man. The instant her feet met the dirt, Arashi began to sort herself. Her shirt was tucked into it's proper position, and she tied her hair back with a piece of cloth torn from the edge of her now tucked in shirt. Leaning down, she began to roll and buckle her pants up.

Arashi let out a deep breath as she was finally in order. Tucking her sling and ammo into her sash, she turn to look at the red haired man. Her head tipped slightly in an informal bow. So the man was a Finalis... That made things a bit more frightening. So, she was traveling with an insane magician and a monster. Wonderful. Still, she was more worried about how she'd even be able to help them rather than what they were. The blue haired man had wanted her to guard him... But she was sure this Dynatos fellow would probably be leagues better than her at that.

Dynatos was sitting on a large boulder that just kept his legs from touching the ground. He was just outside of the city of Zou and had been waiting on Yakuroro who was pretty late considering he said that he would be right back. Not only that but he charged him with the task of dealing with Tetsu. Dynatos already had the handful known as Ares on his hands, but now Tetsu was thrown into the fray. It was like babysitting a child who messes with the other and causes them to cry all the time. That was the relationship of Ares and Tetsu. Although he had a thick bone skull Tetsu was to kind in comparison to Ares who always played rough 24/7. Dynatos had to tell Ares multiple times to not do something cause it was upsetting Tetsu although Ares aggressive playing could make Tetsu tougher at the end of it all, unfortunately this was not the decision of Dynatos to make. His eyes slowly shifted down to scan the ground below him to locate Ares and Tetsu who were seemingly talking and actually understanding what each other were saying.

Ares was making some strange noises towards Tetsu and in turn Tetsu did the same. "Grrrar Rraar..." Ares shot towards Tetsu who had a look of utter shock on his face. Tetsu replied quickly with what Dynatos thought was a question. "Gaou Goauu?" With a smug look about him Ares looked away from Tetsu and back to him from the corner of his eye and with a smirk on his face. "Grrawrr." Tetsu made a yelping kind of noise and put his hands on his face. Dynatos stared at them wondering what the hell they were talking about. It was a interesting sight to see the two of them communicate well if this could be called communicating. The two of them began laughing, or was it laughing? Dynatos thought it was so in his mind that is what it was.

Dynatos began to hear foot steps and heavy breathing to the right of him. When he looked he saw standing there was Yakuroro and some young and rather tiny looking woman. Dynatos was about to say something, but was cut off by Yakuroro. "Tetsu was Tetsu adding him and Ares together was fun." He was obviously being sarcastic towards the blue haired giant. "Hello Arashi and why did you exactly break a prisoner out of Jail. This could only mean that you are being chased by the Imperial Guard." Dynatos sighed and shook his head jumping from the boulder. "Yakuroro you should think of the consequences of your actions sometimes..." Dynatos had almost forgotten the the Imuchakk was only 18 or 19 he could not remember his exact age, but he knew he was only a teenager, so things like this should be expected.

When Arashi asked Yakuroro what his name was, the Imuchakk would be unable to hear her soft voice over the rustling of his carpet, hair, and robes in the wind. The Blue magician would allow his introduction to completely slip his mind as his focus was on regrouping with his friend and family. However with the reunion complete, Yakuroro realized his lack of manners and made a mental note to address Arashi about it once Dynatos had finished speaking. Of course the Finalis' words demanded a response first, "I'm sure you're just over thinking things~ We were already traveling weary of slavers right? This will be like the same thing only we'll need disguises if we go into any big cities. You've seen how that won't be a problem so long as I'm around." The giant winked as he referenced his illusion powers which so far Dynatos was the only true witness to...well, the only one who could speak anyways. "Gyao!" Speaking of which, the young Bonehead lizard, Akatetsu, made an excited sound in greeting as he ran up to Yaku's leg and clung to him while pointing towards Ares and making all sorts of upset noises, "Gyao! Gyaou!"

Yakuroro smiled down at the baby chimera and bent over to pry him off his leg before setting the beast on his shoulder. The blue mage then turned to Arashi and finally got around to introducing himself, "Please forgive my manners, my name is Yakuroro, a blue magician from Imuchakk. I wander the world with my "son" here Akatetsu." The lizard made a sort of salute as it exclaimed, "Gyao!""Tetsu is a chimera born of life magic and several different species including human. He can't speak, but he understands common tongue as well as you or I." Now that everyone was introduced, the group would be ready to head off to the grave site. "Dyn, I promised Arashi that I would bring her to a tomb so she can pay her respects to someone. I'm sure you're tired of waiting around in this clearing so how about you come along?" The Imuchakk's offer would likely be accepted so he didn't even wait for a reply before turning to take a seat on the flying carpet. "I'd like to get there before nightfall, so we'd best go by carpet."

~988/1500~

((Arashi, feel free to time skip us to the grave site with your next post and if you'd like, mention the movements of the enemies. Whether they arrive before or after us is up to you.))

Arashi stared at the red haired man. She couldn't get a proper read on him. However, he seemed more rational than her savior. His first comment was regarding the two odd creatures besides him. One seemed to be that of a simple dog... except not exactly that. The dog was unusual color, with odd markings and a strange coat. Of course, the mutt looked normal compared to the strange skull headed creature. What was that even? In all her wildest dreams Arashi had never seen anything even remotely similar to it. She continued to stare at it until the red haired man finally spoke up.

Once again, Arashi felt this man confirmed that he was more rational than his large friend. He asked the very blunt and very reasonable question about why his friend broke her out of prison. Arashi looked down, rubbing the back of her neck silently as he spoke about being chased by the imperial guard. That was true. They were most likely being tracked this very moment. Arashi did feel somewhat guilty that she was causing this kind of trouble for someone who had saved her, even if just on a whim. Still, when the red haired man scolded the other, she felt some relief. The larger man seemed to do this kind of stuff fairly often... Often enough for the other man to chide him over it. She also finally got a name for her savior... Yakuroro. She had never heard a name like it.

Arashi was about to speak when Yakuroro spoke. Slavers? She blinked in confusion for a small moment before nodding to herself. Of course. Dynatos was a prize to behold for slavers from what she had been taught. She nodded along to Yakuroro's words. The man had found his way into one of the most secure prisons in the country. Arashi was ready to believe he could go unnoticed anywhere he wanted. When Yakuroro turned to introduce himself and explain his... son, Arashi looked between the two, unsure how to react. What did you tell someone when they introduced a chimera? 'He has your eyes?' Probably not.

Before she could react properly, Yakuroro brought up the graveyard. Nodding firmly, she bowed her head deeply. ”Yes. I requested to visit a grave. The grave lays to the south of our location!” Looking up, she chewed on her lower lip nervously at the mention of the flying carpet. Still, she couldn't complain as he was taking her to the grave.

[Time Skip to Dusk]

Arashi was overjoyed to be off of the carpet once more. She just didn't like the idea of being up in the air where one strong wind would mean she'd fall. Stretching, she took note of their surroundings. The group had landed towards the back of the cemetery to avoid detection, and from the looks of it, the place was seemingly empty. However, not even one minute after arriving, the sound of soldiers soon reached their ears.

There were five enemies, one obviously above the other four. They wielded large swords and were stationed around a small and elegant shrine. Arashi frowned as she crouched down, watching them from afar. ”That's the shrine with the altar within...”

As Yakuroro did his usual thing of trying to avoid the questions Dynatos asked him the girl began confirming the questions presented by Dynatos to be true. He looked between the two of them as they began to partially explain what was going on. Dynatos just stood there listening. In the midst of this he began wondering about this girl and what had she done to be put into prison in the first place. The Zou were strict but they did nothing without just cause. That being known the woman had to have done something against the Royalists that was unforgivable. Although getting involved with this woman was not a good idea seeing as they had their own problems regarding the Zou as it was. On top of that a Imuchakk traveling with Fanalis was cause for enough to be careful were they traveled even though many weren't "I don't know the reason for you being locked away in the Zou prisons but my trust for you is low considering how the Zou are when it comes to arresting people. If anything the imperial guard wouldn't worry about you if you were a normal prisoner, but i'll help..." After he spoke those words they all boarded the Magic carpet in the possession of Yakuroro.

Dynatos felt no different in the air than he did on the ground, but Ares on the other hand was terrified to say the least. This was the first time he had been this high in the air. Dynatos had one of these magical tools, but he never flew to high into the sky because there was no need. As Ares clung tightly to Dynatos; Dynatos looked at the girl sitting next to him. It was obvious that she was not to keen on flying either. Moments later they arrived at their destination and before they. knew it there they were the Imperial guards. They were standing in front of the shrine were the alter that the woman was looking for. Dynatos simply stood there as the woman crouched. If it came down to it Yakuroro could hide their presence, but it was obvious Yakuroro did not inform her of his powers. Dynatos sighed lightly at the thought that Yakuroro had put this woman through all this trouble for what felt like no reason. "Looks like even numbers to me..." Dynatos had said this because of the two creatures that stood beside him and Yakuroro. "Let's get this over with quick, because I'd like to talk to you madame." The guards were far enough away that Dynatos could talk in his normal voice without having to whisper, of course if you talked to loud they would notice.

Whilst on the carpet Yakuroro was anything but silent. The large Imuchakk spent almost the entire time talking to Akatetsu about what had happened while they were parted. The bone skulled creature made sounds and acted out his messages as if it were playing a game of charades. This odd conversation between giant and chimera would make it clear that the beast truly did understand common tongue perfectly. One could only guess if the near baby would eventually grow to speak words of its own however the prospect was doubtful as his vocal chords were simply too different from a human's. Since no one else spoke during the flight, Yaku and his son provided the "in-flight entertainment" with their antics but when the atmosphere didn't lighten they eventually became as quiet as the other two. There was little mere words could do to help Dyn trust Arashi more and even less could be done about Arashi and Ares' fear of heights. Sure, Yakuroro could have lowered their altitude, but he was flying high in the interest of avoiding obstacles and ambushes. Reports of their appearances had probably spread this far by now and the idea of bumping into a patrol of soldiers was not a fond one.

Once they finally arrived it was clear that someone within the Palace knew Arashi well, or at least well enough to beat them to the shrine. The soldiers that were waiting for the escaped prisoner and her accomplice had taken up a position surrounding the shrine. They should have been applauded for their diligence as there was no conclusive proof that Arashi would be headed to pay her respects to the grave they now guarded. It took sharp instincts and nerves of steel to take up a perimeter and hold it well when you knew that your target possibly wouldn't even show. However any praise the men could have garnered from Yakuroro was dashed as it would have been much smarter of them to lie in wait out of sight where the shrine could still be in view. This way the soldiers would have been able to ambush anyone who came to visit the resting place of Arashi's master. The mistake now allowed Yakuroro and his companions to take on the role of ambushers with the element of surprise on their side as he landed behind cover out of ear shot.

Once on solid ground again, the Imuchakk had the flying carpet return to hist waist and close his robes as he listened carefully to what the two traveling with him had to say. Arashi confirmed they were in the right place and Dynatos showed his confidence by suggesting they make quick work of the foes before them. However Yakuroro disagreed with the Finalis' estimation that the scales were even. Akatetsu was still just a baby and not yet ready for combat and as for Arashi, little was known about her capabilities in battle other than that she possessed a weapon and presumably knew how to use it. This was not enough information to decide she would be able to handle one of the soldiers all by herself. With all that in mind, Yakuroro spoke up with his own opinion, "Slow down Dynatos. If they were sharp enough to get here before us then that means these probably aren't your run of the mill soldiers." Despite his words, Yakuroro stood and began making his way TOWARDS the men surrounding the alter giving a gesture with his hand to suggest Arashi and Dyn hold back.

In the interest of being a sacrificial distraction, Yakuroro revealed himself to the enemy and casually walked closer to their defensive positions until he was about 20m away. "Oi~ Nice weather we're having, isn't it?" The Imuchakk had no idea how the soldiers were going to react to his greeting, but he threw in a nice friendly wave just for fun. There was no way for him to predict whether they would attack on sight or interrogate him for information from afar, but the magician quietly gathered magoi within himself as he held his staff in his right hand ready to cast a spell should things turn sour.

~1500+/1500~

((Arashi and I spoke about the guards defiling the grave site and getting her fired up with black rukh. Feel free to start that with your next post. I'll react with Yakuroro accordingly in an attempt to resolve things before she goes too far.))